Our latest stop on the Millennium Series train took us to Bitburg Germany for the European Masters event. We found hot weather, hot paintball action and hot tempers. We saw upsets and jubilation. It would be the return of San Diego Dynasty to the top of the podium and a stunned Art Chaos Moscow. This event also crowned the toughest female team for the European Women’s Championships.

Last year the EPBF implemented an extension to the Nations Cup event to include a women’s and under 19 championships. Last year’s Bitburg event saw the first such Women’s Championship. Unfortunately there were only three teams last year. This year was a totally different event with six teams in attendance: Russia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Poland and Austria. Defending champions France once more took top honors defeating Russia. This match up was a reprise from the Arena Girls Cup Moscow event where Harpies and Valkyries battled and vied for the right to play for 1st and 2nd place against Fat Lady’s Charms. The French win gave seeding points for France going into the Nations Cup and U19 events. The team from Great Britain was mainly comprised of a new all-female team hitting the scene in Bitburg, Celtic Banshees. Results from the Women’s Championships would be 1st place France, 2nd place Russia and 3rd place Germany. At the London Masters we will see who is the best of the best in the Nations Cup men’s event.

Friday morning began with sun and warm temperatures. This event was the second in a row to be sold out early and extended to D2 and D3 teams, adding more teams and more games to be played. Bitburg would bring out the CPL teams a bit earlier than normal. In previous events the CPL games didn’t start until after the lunch break. Before lunch we would see GI Sportz Damage beat Camp Carnage, Ramstein Instinct beat TonTons, Icon over Benifica, Dynasty loose to Nexus, Ducks beating Heat, Disruption beating Ranger Warsaw and favorite Art Chaos beating Breakout Spa. Dynasty would go on to win their other match of the day as well as Syndicate beating Damage and Art Chaos taking out Disruption.

Over on the SPL field the games were flowing as smoothly as the CPL field with teams like Dogs D’Amour, Drammen Solid and Polar Bears Tarko dominating the division. Polar Bears Tarko did not fare well in St Tropez but had high hopes to better this event. The team is comprised of several Russian Legion players as well as their coach.

The lower division play also saw teams on winning streaks. Teams in the D1 would find Izmir Collision, Copenhagen Synergy, RMG Bratislava, Desprados Moscow, Caracas Fusion and Coyotes Moscow on a roll. D2 teams were on fire as Scorpions Milano, London Relentless, Bad Boys OSS and Incredi Knights Bramble flying through their first day of prelims.

Friday ended with the 2011 CPL Division champions, Art Chaos Moscow’s first poster signing. More than 150 people passed through Paint Xtreme’s booth to get their own signed poster from the hottest team in European paintball.

Saturday’s temperatures would be hotter and tempers would flare. On the CPL side of the net Damage, Art Chaos, Dynasty, Syndicate, and Nexus continued winning. However an incident on the CPL field where a player assaulted a marshal had everyone in disbelief and on edge. The player in question was called for physical contact on the field and received an appropriate penalty. The player went over to the marshals tent to argue the call. It was at that point that the player stuck the marshal with a closed fist. The marshal was taken to the hospital for facial injuries. The Millennium Series has not yet disclosed the action they will be taking against the player.

SPL teams continued their fight for the quarter final rounds. Dogs D’Amour, Drammen Solid and Polar Bears Tarko were impressing the crowds and continuing to win. These teams would also move into the semifinal rounds on Sunday.

Division 1 teams were also fighting well to make it to the Sunday Club. Teams such as Desperados Moscow, Izmir Collision, RMG Bratislava and Lisbon Benifica 2 (Prophecy) finished in the top of their brackets and would move on to the quarter finals.

Division 2 teams would see Incredi Knights Bramble go undefeated into the quarter finals later on Saturday along with other teams such as London Relentless, Bad Boys OSS, Scorpions Milano and Newport Laysick VIP.

While the Division 2 quarter finals played on the EPBF Women’s Championships took center stage on the CPL field. Each team played three games. These women gave the crowd something to cheer about and showed that girls can play very aggressive and fast.

Sunday came with even warmer temperatures and more adrenaline pumping action. Eight CPL teams would move into the quarter finals: Dynasty, Damage, Art Chaos, Syndicate, TonTons, Instinct, Ducks and Breakout Spa. Art Chaos was lined up to go head to head with Damage. A nail biting game that resulted in Damage going home empty handed. Copenhagen Ducks played strong all weekend but were plagued with penalties on Sunday resulting in being elimated from going further. Instinct knocked Breakout Spa to move into the semi’s as well. Syndicate made a strong showing at this event on their own turf and sent TonTons home empty handed as well. This would come to a show down between Art Chaos and Dynasty, a reprise of last year’s World Cup Disney event and this year’s St Tropez event. The marshals on the CPL field had done a remarkable job during the weekend but on Sunday things changed dramatically. In the game between Dyansty and Art Chaos many bad calls were made. Art Chaos received a great deal of 1-4-1’s. One particular pentalty was called on Fedorov who stopped shooting when he thought he had been shot in the pack. He called for a paintcheck and was confirmed out and called a 1-4-1 for playing on although it was clear that he had stopped shooting once he thought he was hit. Dynasty was up by 3 points and switched sides. Art Chaos came back and scored two points in a row but switched sides again and due to the return of 1-4-1’s lost the match to Dynasty forcing them to play for 3rd and 4th. Syndicate and Instinct had the same problems that led to Syndicate to winning over Instinct. Art Chaos started on the same end of the field as they did with Dynasty with the same result. The crowd went silent as Art Chaos, the event favorite, lost to Instinct, leaving them in 4th place. Instinct would take their first podium placing for the season. Dynasty and Syndicate geared up to face each other. The inconsistant marshalling continued throughout the finals. Dynasty took their first win in Europé after more than 4 events coming in 2nd or third. Syndicate would be happy with their 2nd place finish.

It would be the SPL teams turn to take the CPL field. After a dismal 24th place finish in St Tropez, Polar Bears Tarko made an amazing turn around and went into the semi finals. Hellwood Paris made their return to the Millennum Series this season and took 3rd place in St. Tropez. They too would move into the semi finals. Drammen Solid, in a rebuilding season, landed in 21st place in St Tropez just ahead of Polar Bears, made an amazing comeback and found themselves in the semi finals. It would end up that Polar Bears would play Dogs D’Amour for 1st and 2nd and Solid would face Hellwood. Once more the marshals inconsistant calls would take a toll on the teams. Dogs D’Amour lost to Polar Bears Tarko and having to settle for 2nd place. A rash of 1-4-1’s on Dogs led to their loss. Solid also suffered at the hands of the marshals and lost to Hellwood and would have to settle for a 4th place win.

Division 1 would see Izmir Collision take their first 1st place finish this season after taking 2nd in St Tropez. Following Izmir would be Caracas Fusion, powered by Tony Perez, Desperados Moscow in 3rd and RMG Bratislava in 4th. ML Kings, 1st place winner in St. Tropez, would receive 100 points for marshaling this event.

Division 2 would find Aggression the Hauge on the podium. This time in 1st place. They beat out NPP Valenciennes. NPP would have to settle for 2nd. Newcommer to the Millenium scene in their first Millennium event was Bad Boys OSS would impress all and take 3rd place. After taking 2nd place in St Tropez, London Relentless would have to be happy with 4th in Bitburg.

Division 3 play started on Saturday morning and pre-lims continued into Sunday afternoon. Division 3 saw a gret deal of new teams including an all girls team, Celtic Banshees, on the field. As well as teams such as Neon, Izmir Collision 2, and London Fearless. There would be upsets in D3 similar to the other divisions. Taking top honors at this event was Neon, knocking veteran GFY Paris off the 1st place throne. GFY who won St Tropez would go home in 5th place for Bitburg. Taking 2nd place was another newcommer to the series, Ninjinhas Sao Paulo. Following Ninjinhas Sao Paulo we would find Evil Men Toulouse, who finished 14th in St Tropez. Fourth place would be filled by Maxs Family Frankfurt 2.

With Bitburg in the books the standings for all divisions were recalculated and are as follows:

CPL

1st Dynasty

2nd Art Chaos Moscow

3rd Ramstein Instinct

4th Toulouse TonTons

SPL

1st Dogs D’Amour

2nd Vision Marseille

3rd Hellwood Paris

4th Copenhagen PB Club

Division 1

1st ML Kings

2nd Izmir Collision

3rd Copenhagen Synergy

4th RMG Bratislava

Division 2

1st Aggression The Hauge

2nd London Relentless

3rd NPP Valenciennes

4th Scorpions Milano

Division 3

1st Personal Vendetta Nice

2nd Maxs Family Frankfurt 2

3rd GFY Evolution Paris 2

4th Brakassees Frejus

The next event is the London Masters. This event will feature the Nations Cup mens event. The question that everyone is asking, can Art Chaos Moscow regain their lead? See you in London in 5 weeks.